American educated kids fail miserably when compared to foreign kids(india...pakistan....japan..i dont count china...go to pakistan/india and see how many upperish class chinese end up in schools there)....its part lax parenting and part lax education system.....and part the stupid overly liberal mindset where (and i read this someplace) American high school teachers wont mark mistakes on exams in red for fear of hurting the students feelings!!! WHAT?

i can speak of at least university of maryland...but i think its true for most mid and top level schools...

go to the math/engineering/physics departments(THE DEFINING depts. in any university)...and you'll see a bunch of indians...koreans...pakistanis...and surprisingly russians...not many chinese though (they might be there..scraping by...but i never saw any in my honors classes).

People can make all the excuses they want....but eventually the most disciplined and smart over time end up governing.....and it doesn't look good for the races/people i DIDN'T mention..of their OWN fault

Venezuelans, and many other Latin Americans are highly educated, though they are also highly unemployed. Until not long ago, Venezuela had a surplus of medical doctors, lawyers and teachers, many of them unemployed because there aren't enough jobs for them.

So why do these Venezuelans insist on higher education knowing that they are the future unemployed? Part of it is because college education in Venezuela is free, if you are smart enough and hard working enough. Part of it is because it is a third world country and they know they can't support a stay home mom and kids on a bus driver's salary. And a big part of it is because parents place high value on higher education and not only are they themselves educated, but they also encourage and urge their kids to go to college.

I think the problem in the US has been that for many years, you could work at a GM plant with nothing but a GED and still make a decent living, with all kinds of benefits, health care, pension plan, etc. Now that those years are gone in the US for ever, maybe things will change and more value will be placed on education.

Whatever..heres a list off the dome of U.S. inventions.. tell me if we trailInternet

i would just like to go on record saying that AL-Gore did not invent the internet....actually

The Internet was originally developed by DARPA ( the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency )as a means to share information on defense research between involved universities and defense research facilities.

i would just like to go on record saying that AL-Gore did not invent the internet....actually

The Internet was originally developed by DARPA ( the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency )as a means to share information on defense research between involved universities and defense research facilities.

i would just like to go on record saying that AL-Gore did not invent the internet....actually

The Internet was originally developed by DARPA ( the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency )as a means to share information on defense research between involved universities and defense research facilities.

in what aspect?...a lot of people are superior...but in the wrong field to showcase such..

bench

sigh...ok so we r doing this serious...fiine...

my field that i'm in...i got in it 7ish years ago...and within 1 1/2 years of being in it i ws teaching corporate clients ...IT professionals some of whom had been in the field for 20 years...within 2 1/2 years of teaching...the FBI sent me 1 class and then sent me 4 more classes 1 after the other...all of those guys got deployed....apparently the US govt thought me good enough to teach ...yanno military communication in combat zones someplace depended on how well i taught these guys/gals

its been 7ish years and i'm gonna take and pass a test that most people pass in their late 40s..with 20 plus years of experience...i'm 34....

superior enough.?...i just happened to fall into this field...i think i woulda kicked ass at anything...barring my interest in it

bench...i dont know what ya do...but if you wanna be the best at what you do...better than 99% of the crowd..you have be cock sure of yourself..and back it up....it comes with being good...

my field that i'm in...i got in it 7ish years ago...and within 1 1/2 years of being in it i ws teaching corporate clients ...IT professionals some of whom had been in the field for 20 years...within 2 1/2 years of teaching...the FBI sent me 1 class and then sent me 4 more classes 1 after the other...all of those guys got deployed....apparently the US govt thought me good enough to teach ...yanno military communication in combat zones someplace depended on how well i taught these guys/gals

its been 7ish years and i'm gonna take and pass a test that most people pass in their late 40s..with 20 plus years of experience...i'm 34....

superior enough.?...i just happened to fall into this field...i think i woulda kicked ass at anything...barring my interest in it

bench...i dont know what ya do...but if you wanna be the best at what you do...better than 99% of the crowd..you have be cock sure of yourself..and back it up....it comes with being good...

...we can save humble for those who need it....the mediocre folks

i already am better than most in my field...i established myself as the "go to guy" a long time ago...

my field that i'm in...i got in it 7ish years ago...and within 1 1/2 years of being in it i ws teaching corporate clients ...IT professionals some of whom had been in the field for 20 years...within 2 1/2 years of teaching...the FBI sent me 1 class and then sent me 4 more classes 1 after the other...all of those guys got deployed....apparently the US govt thought me good enough to teach ...yanno military communication in combat zones someplace depended on how well i taught these guys/gals

its been 7ish years and i'm gonna take and pass a test that most people pass in their late 40s..with 20 plus years of experience...i'm 34....

superior enough.?...i just happened to fall into this field...i think i woulda kicked ass at anything...barring my interest in it

bench...i dont know what ya do...but if you wanna be the best at what you do...better than 99% of the crowd..you have be cock sure of yourself..and back it up....it comes with being good...

India is no stranger to the tiger mom trendAs millions of Indians migrate from villages to cities, parents increasingly view the educational success of their children as paramount.By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times

Stay-at-home mom Swati Rastogi watched her daughter Krisha play with plastic monkeys as son Dhruva lined up model cars in their two-bedroom apartment surrounded by Hindi and English alphabet posters.

Dhruva, 3, asked whether Pakistan is part of India. He was informed that it's not. "I don't know where that comes from," she said, watching attentively.

That's a rarity for Rastogi, who leaves little to chance when it comes to her children's education. Although China and its diaspora receive lots of attention for hyper-parenting since last year's publication of the book "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother," Indians aren't exactly wallflowers in the child-rearing department.

At a January literary festival in Jaipur, "Tiger Mother" author Amy Chua told adoring audiences that Indian tiger moms may outnumber China's.

"The crowd went gaga over almost anything she said," said Shobha De, a writer, socialite and mother of six. "I don't think she's seen such a positive reaction elsewhere in the world."

Indian tiger parents feature in Indian TV series, reality shows, books and magazines in a society willing to do almost anything for its children's future, even sometimes before they're born. "Looking for sperm donors," read a recent Chennai advertisement. "Must have graduated from a top technical institute."

As millions of Indians migrate from villages to cities, expanding India's middle class, parents increasingly view education as their family's best ticket to higher social status and material wealth.

In one survey, parents said they spent half their take-home pay on education. The sacrifices, monetary and otherwise, made so children can learn English and won't have to work on a farm, lead to a frequent mantra, experts say: With all I've done for you, why aren't you getting perfect grades?

"It's become very crass," said Shayama Chona, former principal at prestigious Delhi Public School.

The drive to succeed is filling the world's top hospitals, universities, multinational companies and start-ups with people of Indian descent. Given the growing competition from Chinese and Indian youngsters, American students must raise their game, President Obama warned in May.

"In Indian culture, parents say: 'You're going to do engineering, not music, and you're going to be first. No excuses,'" said Indian-born University of Houston Chancellor Renu Khator.

Rastogi, who rates her intensity as average for an Indian parent, quit her software industry job to raise her children, enrolling both in pre-nursery school at age 2, supplemented by home instruction.

When her daughter turned 3, Rastogi and travel executive husband Aakash applied to 15 nursery schools, scouring their circle of connections to find one who was a board member at Delhi Public School, then charming his secretary for a recommendation letter. Covering their bases, they also prayed to deceased guru Sai Baba.

"It was divine intervention" when Krisha got in, Rastogi said.

Rastogi then focused on Dhruva, showing up every other day at Krisha's school so teachers and administrators wouldn't forget her and making cut-out tree props for school assemblies. Dhruva was also accepted.

"If you want relaxing weekends, enroll elsewhere," the school principal told parents at orientation. "If you're ready to work weekends helping your kids study, you're in the right place."

Despite being taught the first-grade syllabus in advance, Krisha is struggling in Hindi and English penmanship, so she and her mother practice at home.

"I give her a deadline, not a very tight one, just 10 minutes," Rastogi said. "She's more interested in distractions than the blackboard."

Recently, Rastogi backed off teaching Krisha herself — sending her instead to thrice-weekly tutoring — after realizing she was losing her temper, occasionally slapping her daughter, when progress lagged. Krisha's also doing twice-weekly art and dance classes for relaxation.

A government survey released in early March found that 99% of Indian children had been either slapped on the face or hit with a cane at school, and 81% had been told they were incapable of learning.

"Hitting, slapping and forcing kids, which is quite common in the Indian context, are traits of tiger parenting," said Mumbai's DNA newspaper. "Such parenting behavior would have child rights groups up in arms in the West."

Some mothers consciously reject the parental arms race. Novelist Namita Devidayal, a self-avowed "slummy mom," teaches her children yoga. "India used to be more holistic," she said. "We're trying to be like China, but we're not even getting there. Hopefully this will balance out."

The pressure carries costs: In 2010, there were 2,479 suicides in India committed by students who had failed school tests, compared with 1,571 in 2001. Chennai's Sneha hotline, one of India's first such counseling programs in a nation where mental health treatment still carries a stigma, fields up to 450 calls daily from anxious students.

In search of offspring perfection, some parents wield guilt, anger, feng shui and time-management strategies, pushing teenagers to study as much as 10 hours a day outside classes, after canceling cable TV subscriptions and banning parties.

"My mum went insane," said Kavita Mukherji, a recent graduate who now works in the publishing industry. "She locked me in, delivering food to my room, so I wouldn't leave the house." At a temple one day, her mother made her walk around an auspicious idol for luck. "If I do 100 rounds, will I score 100% in every subject?" Mukherji asked her mother. "She got offended and never took me to a temple again."

That said, most Indian tiger moms believe they're less fanatical than their Chinese counterparts, perhaps tempered by a more tolerant culture and core spirituality. "Tiger moms in India are not as fierce," author De said.

Back in her living room, Rastogi tells her children to pick up their toys.

"I'm not a tiger mom," she says. "I'm just doing my role. Working would be selfish. It would just leave more for the grandparents."

My girlfriend's family is from Vietnam and all of the kids are extremely successful and have very high level education. They are taught that they are nothing without an education and the family atmosphere is surrounded by helping the children. The parents often spend more time helping their children with school and musical activities. They push their kids to be the highest person in the class and NOT to act like American kids. The Indochinese have the highest test scores across the board in certain subjects.

My girlfriend's little nephew makes straight A's, has won the Regional(Houston area) spelling bee 4 times in a row and he plays Beethoven on the piano with his eyes closed, he's 11. His parents would not allow the newspaper to interview him about his state championship spelling bee performance, he finished 3rd in the entire state of Texas for his age. These kids are taught to be humble and that success is part of life that you cannot achieve without hard work and dedication. This kid asks me questions about life that i honestly have a hard time explaining to him. He really is so smart it amazes me every day. At 11 years old he is already talking about becoming a doctor and an author so he can support his parents and buy a house for his little brother. This kid has a better head on his shoulders than most American's in their 20's.

It's all conditioning, the parents force him to do homework every night and when he's done, he has to do homework for the next grade. So by the time he hits the next grade, he already knows what it's about and it's easy for him. It's not that he is incredibly intelligent, but he has no choice and he is conditioned to perform to his parents every word. Part of it makes me proud because kids need leadership and discipline to be successful, but at the same time he has never road a bike or spent time with his friends away from school. They only let him spend a very small amount of time watching TV or playing video games. He has to get all his studies done in order to even eat dinner and they are very strict about his every move, it's almost like he's a little robot.

When high school is too much: 1 in 4 don't graduate, report findsBy Michael Muskal

This post has been corrected. Please see note at bottom for details.

The nation is making progress in increasing the high school graduation rate, according to a study released Monday, yet 1 in 4 Americans don't complete high school.

The report, released by advocacy groups, was presented at the Grad Nation education summit in Washington, D.C. The event itself was organized by the America’s Promise Alliance, founded by former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

The national graduation rate increased by 3.5 percentage points between 2001 and 2009, the report found. The graduation rate rose from 72% to 75.5% in 2009 -– meaning that roughly one of every four American students dropped out of high school. The groups’ goal is 90% by 2020.

“The good news is that some states have made improvements in their graduation rates, showing it can be done. But the data also indicate that if we are to meet our national goals by 2020, we will have to accelerate our rate of progress, particularly in the states that have shown little progress,” said Robert Balfanz, director of Everyone Graduates Center, Johns Hopkins University, and co-author of the Building a Grad Nation report.

In addition to the center and America’s Promise Alliance, other groups involved in the report were Civic Enterprises and the Alliance for Excellent Education. The report was sponsored by AT&T with additional support from the Pearson Foundation.

High school graduation rates are considered a key indicator of future student success and earning potential. In his State of the Union address, President Obama encouraged states to pass laws to require students to stay in school until they graduate or they turn 18. It is estimated that high school graduates will earn $130,000 more over their lifetimes than dropouts.

The report found that 24 states increased their high school graduation rates. In addition, the number of high schools graduating 60% or fewer students on time -- so-called dropout factories -- fell from 2,007 in 2002 to 1,550 in 2010. The authors estimate that 790,000 fewer students attended a dropout factory in 2010 than in 2002.

The increase in graduation rates was mainly because of improvement in 12 states, with New York showing growth of 13 percentage points and Tennessee showing growth of 17.8 percentage points since 2002, according to the report. Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, South Carolina, Missouri, Alabama, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Kentucky were among the top dozen.

Only one state, Wisconsin, has reached the 90% plateau, though Vermont is getting close, the report notes.

If every state had a graduation rate of 90% or better, 580,000 additional students would have graduated in the class of 2011, increasing the gross domestic product by $6.6 billion and generating $1.8 billion in additional revenue as a result of increased economic activity, the report estimates.